Bandwagon
by Nuklear Firefly
Summary: Eight years after their team disperses, Team 10 realizes that their old sensei is missing out. They are bent on fixing that... implied AsuKure, ShikaIno Birthday fic!


**Bandwagon**

"Asuma-sensei, quit being such a baby," Ino grumped, shoving her old sensei along towards the jewelry store.

"Yeah, Asuma," Shikamaru agreed, helping her shove him. "Quit stalling, it's getting annoying."

"It's not like Kurenai's going to hate you for this," Chouji commented wisely from behind his two friends, cheerily munching on chips. The bag crinkled noisily, though not quite as loud as Asuma's grumpy protests as the jounin dug his heels into the pavement. It did no good, only served to slow down and aggravate Ino and Shikamaru more. A few innocent street-goers stopped and stared at the four ninjas (two Jounin, two Chuunin), who seemed to pay them no attention. Asuma, every once in a while, would shoot an innocent bystander an envious look, causing said bystander to scuttle off and away from the smoking Jounin. Ino abruptly stopped pushing him, Shikamaru nearly dropping him in indignant surprise at suddenly being left alone to the task. Ino's hands flew into a potentially dangerous seal, which Asuma regarded with quiet, detached interest.

"You're not going to Shintenshin me just for something like this, are you?" he asked, leaning away from Shikamaru, who gave a slight sigh of relief. Ino's eyes narrowed and Asuma's self-assurance vanished into thin air.

"Oh, aren't I?" she replied, the seal complete, and held it up for him to see. "I could get you at this range without even trying."

"Not if I run."

"Shikamaru's got you. You can't run."

Asuma wanted to turn around, stare increduously at the shadow master, but his head wouldn't obey the mental command. Shit. Shikamaru _had _got him in a Kagemane. His head turned, finally, though against his will, and he looked over his shoulder at the boy, who was also looking over his shoulder. One silver earring glinted in the afternoon sunlight, followed by a quick flash from Shikamaru's gold wedding ring as his left hand sought out the back of his neck in sheepish apology.

"She'd kill me if I just let you go," he said by way of explanation. Asuma sighed. Fair enough. It was true, too. Ino _would _kill him. Shikamaru turned his head again so that Asuma was facing forward and let the jutsu drop. Asuma's broad shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Are you making me get gold or silver?" he asked. Ino squealed in joy, latching onto his arm, and dragged him forward again. Chouji and Shikamaru exchanged exasperated looks and trudged after them, watching as the two Jounin rounded a corner, Ino bantering on about jewelry.

"Silver to start off with!" Chouji called after them, laughing. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"This is so troublesome... I shouldn't have even mentioned this to Ino. She _always _takes stuff like this too seriously."

For the eleventh time that afternoon, Asuma's protest that he was too old for this sort of thing drifted back to the two Chuunin, who snorted amusedly. Asuma _was _a little old for their plans, but Ino was adamant that all of the old Team Ten be in the same boat. She had dragged her lazy husband right out of the house in search of Chouji, who had to come up with some fancy explanations to his two-year-old son that Auntie Ino was being crazy again so that he could escape playing Ninja that day and go on the "Mission," as Ino had dubbed it. They had sought out poor Asuma, who had been dozing comfortably in the Jounin lounge up until Ino forced him to leave via body invasion and ever since had been wandering Konoha in search of the perfect jewelry shop.

Shikamaru was very convinced that, not only were the soles of his feet about to wear through, but also that it really didn't matter _where _they went for something so stupid as a couple loops of metal. If he ever said something about said loops of metal being as dumb as he thought, he was quite sure that Ino would beat him senseless. So he kept his mouth shut as they walked into another shop, the bell on the door tinkling cheerily to announce their arrival. The air inside was air conditioned to the point of being cold, but they wouldn't take long, whether they bought what they were looking for or left again.

Ino found what she wanted immediately, pointed with a giddy giggle while explaining the purpose, and the shopkeeper looked up at Asuma with a raised eyebrow. The older Jounin blushed, much to his own horror.

"...I can't believe you guys talked me into this," he growled. Shikamaru snorted quietly, Chouji laughed nervously, and Ino shot their old sensei a wicked grin.

"Kurenai will love it," she assured him. And again, he caved. Damn these kids for knowing every single button and how to push it... Why couldn't he have gotten the dumb kids?

"You're just scared this is going to hurt."

"Don't be a chickenshit, Asuma."

"...That's not very nice, Shikamaru."

"Bah... he _is _being one. Not like this is going to kill him."

"Yeah, Asuma-sensei! You can do it! Go get 'em!"

"...Alright, let's get this over with..."

Or at least the ones that wouldn't come to him eight years after being on his team, demanding that he pierce his ears so that he wouldn't be the only team member without earrings?

**Author's Notes: **It's... so much easier if you don't ask. XD;; I just realized that Asuma's the only Team Ten member without earrings and I was like, "This must be amended." And I was considering writing something where he proposed to Kurenai or something, but... yeah. Tackled both in one. Yay for implication!

Happy birthday to my Asuma-sensei! -luffs on- It's all for you, luv.


End file.
